|
125 East Erie St. |
| Painesville OH 44077 | |
| Phone: (440)350-2730 Fax: (440)350-2601 | |
| soil@lakecountyohio.org |
Watersheds
A watershed is the entire land surface that drains surface
water to a particular point. Imagine
a system of valleys oriented north and south separated by ridges.
Precipitation that falls on the eastern slope of the ridge flows into one
valley and precipitation that falls on the western slope flows into a separate
valley. The ridge is the watershed
boundary. Watersheds can also be
divided into smaller sub-watersheds. Everyone
in Lake County lives in the Lake Erie Watershed, those in the western portion
probably live in the Chagrin River Watershed and those in the eastern portion
probably live in the Grand River Watershed.
And of all the people that live in the Grand River Watershed, some may
live in the Bates Creek Watershed and some in Paine Creek, and so on.
This concept is important to understand because land use in the entire watershed
affects the quality and function of the water, not just land use adjacent to the
main stem of the stream. Everybody
lives in a watershed; the actions your neighbors upstream in the watershed take
will have effects on your property. You
neighbors downstream in the watershed will be affected by your actions.
This is a map showing the larger subwatersheds of Lake County. If you are interested in learning about your subwatershed please contact the Lake SWCD. Visit our stream names page for information on the origin of stream names in Lake County
